In the middle of last year, Steam restricted a number of indie games made with AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) technology, most of which were ordered to be removed from the shelves or received warnings from the platform's officials, and Steam was extra cautious in this regard compared to the tacit approval of AI technology by the Epic platform.
The reason given by V for this conservative move is that "the introduction of AI technology will increase the complexity of copyright issues", and it is worried that after the introduction of AI content, developers will use content that does not have copyright permission.
In fact, as early as 2022, some developers have begun to use AI to assist in making games, and put their works on the Steam platform for sale, among which the more representative is "This Girl Does Not Exist", the game is generated by AI from pictures, copywriting to dubbing, and the official will also regard "AI generation" as a major selling point in publicity.
"This Girl Doesn't Exist"
Although the reasons given are very reasonable, the impact of the draconian ban has affected some game developers who are in the "middle ground".
For example, an indie game author named "Shasaur" was quickly removed from the shelves by Steam officials because he used a mod to import the ChatGPT interface in his casual farming game "Heard of Story".
The game uses ChatGPT to generate some NPC dialogues
Although the author submitted instructions on how AI works as required by the platform and uploaded another original version without AI, he still did not escape the fate of being forcibly taken down.
But in just half a year, Steam has slowed down its attitude towards AI content. Today, Steam officially released a new announcement about AIGC titles, while saying that "after talking to developers in the space over the past few months, we will be making some policy adjustments to games that use AI technology." ”
There are two main changes made by the authorities, the first is the modification of the way content is censored. If the developer uses AI to obtain "pre-generated content", such as images, voiceovers, etc., then the developer must promise to the official that the game does not contain illegal or infringing content, and that the game content is consistent with the promotional materials provided.
If the game contains "real-time generated content", such as NPC dialogue generated in real time by AI, then the developer must also inform the authorities of the protective measures used to ensure that the game does not generate illegal content.
In addition to regulating developers, Steam is also allowing players to report illegal AI content found in the game through the new system.
After the implementation of the above regulations, the platform has finally relaxed the restrictions on AI content, after which developers will be able to publish games with AI content on the premise of complying with the regulations.
As for why the regulations on AI content were belatedly arrived after half a year, the official explanation was that "it would be irresponsible for players and developers to make hasty decisions on such complex issues." ”